Here Are 27 Reality Checks About Retirement

That's the good thing about living in America, you pay your dime, and take your chance. You folks are certainly more optimistic than I am about the near term outlook for investments, I see rampant inflation staring over the edge of an impending recession. I honestly hope I'm wrong and hope y'all make a killing over the course of the next few months. I'll be the first in line to congratulate you for your insight.

As of now, I'm glad I got out when I did. When I do get back in, I'll be starting at ground zero rather than in a hole, so I have some room for error when things do start to improve. If I miss the first 10 - 15% I'm no worse off than had I stayed the course.

Best of luck to everyone.
 

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HarryHawk said:
That's the good thing about living in America, you pay your dime, and take your chance. You folks are certainly more optimistic than I am about the near term outlook for investments, I see rampant inflation staring over the edge of an impending recession. I honestly hope I'm wrong and hope y'all make a killing over the course of the next few months. I'll be the first in line to congratulate you for your insight.

As of now, I'm glad I got out when I did. When I do get back in, I'll be starting at ground zero rather than in a hole, so I have some room for error when things do start to improve. If I miss the first 10 - 15% I'm no worse off than had I stayed the course.

Best of luck to everyone.
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Good luck, Harry!

See you on the other side!
 
Liberty said:
Well, the way we like to weather the downturns is to move money over into a great "defensive" fund we own. Just sit and wait it out. Of course each time is different and if the market crashes no where in the market is safe.

The irony is the defensive fund has beat the S & P 500 for many years so its like "why not leave it there"...lol.

I know some that think they can time the market...maybe they can. Others like to have skin in the game and be part of the volatility index...lol.
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You still have not told us what fund it is that has beaten the S&P for years
 

garyt1957 said:
That question doesn't seem too difficult
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Except for the fact if we look it likely may have outperformed over an exceptional period like the lost decade ..any bets if that’s the case a simple 30 year bond beat that fund over the same time frame.

in fact equities and gold have beaten equities and bonds over almost all time frames for the last two decades
 
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mathjak107 said:
You still have not told us what fund it is that has beaten the S&P for years
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If anyone wants to PM me I'll be happy to share the specific name of the fund which I was talking about -will ask you not to publish it on this forum - as I mentioned "its simply a good dividend growth fund". There are other dividend growth funds of course. Please don't think I'm promoting it. Personal investment choices are just that - personal...lol.
 
Liberty said:
If anyone wants to PM me I'll be happy to share the specific name of the fund which I was talking about -will ask you not to publish it on this forum - as I mentioned "its simply a good dividend growth fund". There are other dividend growth funds of course. Please don't think I'm promoting it. Personal investment choices are just that - personal...lol.
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That makes zero sense …we talk about Stocks and funds all the time.

i don’t even know how to pm on here , so pm me with the name then
 
mathjak107 said:
That makes zero sense …we talk about Stocks and funds all the time.

i don’t even know how to pm on here , so pm me with the name then
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If you think I make zero sense, then I doubt you'd care about any fund I own.
Honestly, do your own homework mathjak - you are well versed in the stock market - get on the web and find it if you care so much about dividend funds. I'm sure fidelity has several.

I don't want to promote any investment advice here on the forum. Past performance does not guarantee future performance and I'm guessing people here have hard earned money they may be wanting to invest and are trying to keep up with inflation with. I am not a financial advisor. However, if anyone wants to check it out, I'd be happy to give them the information, as we've been very happy with this fund.
 
Liberty said:
If you think I make zero sense, then I doubt you'd care about any fund I own.
Honestly, do your own homework mathjak - you are well versed in the stock market - get on the web and find it if you care so much about dividend funds. I'm sure fidelity has several.

I don't want to promote any investment advice here on the forum. Past performance does not guarantee future performance and I'm guessing people here have hard earned money they may be wanting to invest and are trying to keep up with inflation with. I am not a financial advisor. However, if anyone wants to check it out, I'd be happy to give them the information, as we've been very happy with this fund.
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all we want to do is verify your claim that this defensive fund beat the s&p over most time frames .

it has nothing to do with investment advice . this is what financial forums do , we discuss funds and investments.

if someone is going to make a claim about performance , we should be able to verify that claim .
 
mathjak107 said:
all we want to do is verify your claim that this defensive fund beat the s&p over most time frames .

it has nothing to do with investment advice . this is what financial forums do , we discuss funds and investments.

if someone is going to make a claim about performance , we should be able to verify that claim .
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You are free to go to Fidelity and ask them. Also if you look on the web you will find several references to Dividend funds that have beaten the S & P 500 over specific years or even a decade with reams of data to prove it. I'm sure the one we own isn't the only one, its just a really good one that is way less volatile than the typical index funds.

That's what the financial discussion was about - dividend funds in general.
 
Liberty said:
You are free to go to Fidelity and ask them. Also if you look on the web you will find several references to Dividend funds that have beaten the S & P 500 over specific years or even a decade with reams of data to prove it. I'm sure the one we own isn't the only one, its just a really good one that is way less volatile than the typical index funds.

That's what the financial discussion was about - dividend funds in general.
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this was a waste of all our time to be frank

and a dividend fund is not the same thing as a defensive fund .

you would have to struggle to find a time frame fidelity fsdix which is strategic dividend and income beat the s&p as an example.

as well as 80% of the s&p pays dividends , that doesnt mean it is a defensive fund by your definition above about dividend funds being defensive.

just being less volatile does not mean it is a defensive fund and funds that are playing the sector game and calling themselves defensive funds are not really . they are a overly risky bet on a sector being the correct one to be in at the moment

at the end of the day being defensive over any meaningful time frame is rarely going to beat the s&p 500
 
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When it comes to being defensive or not , it usually isn’t decided by a fund ..it is decided by the allocations and portfolio that fund is used with .

here is a list of the most defensive portfolios that are highest on the ulcer index …higher meaning more defensive .

info on each is available here

https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolios/

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mathjak107 said:
No one knows how long to recover ..2008 was almost recovered in a year ….2000 adjusted for inflation was 12 years ….

but so what .,,even at 65 there is money that won’t be used to eat for 20-30 years …that is the money that goes in to equities .

a 60/40 portfolio has more then a decade in bonds and cash.

are you saying all your retirement money is in equities late in the game ? That is not a market issue if that is the case it’s a poor planning issue …

I suggest you read kitces article on the red zone…

if one is a few year out from retirement then 100% equities is likely not a good idea

https://www.kitces.com/blog/managing-portfolio-size-effect-with-bond-tent-in-retirement-red-zone/
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Oh, it's been poor planning from the beginning. Had nothing saved until after I took out bankruptcy in my 50's. It was only then that I could start saving money and the company I worked for had a plan. They made it sound really good because of the tax advantages. I was ignorant about any details or long time disadvantages. All I knew was the amount was increasing and that was exciting to me. By the time I realized what kind of plan it was, I was kind of stuck. I started taking Social Security at 66 and was able to put all of that away each month so I continued to work until I retired at 71. I have no debt and except for high rent which is a problem shared around the country, my expenses are pretty low. The mutual fund has stabilized and I will be drawing out some of it soon. I have started liquidating a hobby I have and that will boost the savings a little. I think I can make it, but like much of my life, my financial history is yet just one more big regret.
 

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